Betta Edu, the suspended Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation minister, has arrived the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ms Edu appearance at the commission’s facility in Abuja is to honour an invitation extended to her few hours after she was suspended from office on Monday.
President Bola Tinubu slammed the suspension on her amid public outcry for her exit over an alleged approval of public funds for disbursement into a private account.
The funds, approximately N600 million, are budget for poverty alleviation of vulnerable people in her state of origin – Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Ogun states.
Interior minister enmeshed, summoned
Interior minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is also facing allegation of also violating the country’s financial regulations like his suspended colleague.
As a government official barred from venturing into any other business aside from farming, Mr Tunji-Ojo is accused of using a firm he co-owned to secure a contract deal of N438 million from the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation ministry spearheaded by Ms Edu.
In a televised interview, he denies the allegations, saying he knows nothing about the day-to-day running of the company, having resigned in 2019 as one of its directors, when he won election into the House of Representatives.
He admitted being a shareholder in the firm that has his wife as a director and one Gbadamasi Gbadamasi Clement as the company’s secretary, contrary to public documents listing him as still retaining his directorship.
On Tuesday, The Nation Newspaper reports that President Tinubu has summoned him to the presidential villa.